De witt



(N0 Model.)

vNo. 238,210.

DE W. 0.1BRBED. Canceling Stmp..

Patented March 1,1881'.

Imm. 5

Enid

Unirse STATES ATeNr erica,

DE WITT C. BREED, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

CANCELlNG-STAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 238,210, dated March 1, 1881. Application filed May 14, 1880. (No model.)

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DE WITT C. BREED, a citizen of Buffalo, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Canceling-Stamps for Post-Office Use; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it vappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or ligures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this speciiication.

My invention consists ot' certain novel devices or combinations of devices in cancelingstamps provided with rotary cutters, the construction and operation of ,which will be understood by the following description.

In the accompanying'drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section of my canceling-stamp. Fig. 2 is a detached view of a rotating tube, with the cutter attached to the stem thereof. Figs.` 3, 4, and 5 are detached views.

The handle of the stamp is represented at A, Fig. 1. It is made hollow, and the cutter, with the devices for operating the same, is placed therein; and it isalso provided with a ferrule or ring, B, attached by means of screws C. By means of a spring, I, and other devices, the stroke or action of the handle upon the cutter is elastic 5 and by means of another spring, M, the stroke or action of the handle upon the printing-plate or sliding head is also elastic;

.but both of these features will be hereinafter more fully described.

The sliding head D works in the ferrule'C, and is providedvith a disk or faceplate, E, Fig. 4, which may be cast with the type or letters thereon for printing the name of the postofice and State-as, Buf'alo, N. Y. This plate has a recess for inserting type for printing the date, these removable pieces being held in place by means of a set-pin, F, provided with a spring, G. i Arranged to operate in the central recess of this face-plate is a cutter, O, having a double or V-shaped edge, or rather two sets of double edges set crosswise, as shown in Fig. 5. The object of this double and cross edge is to enable the cutter to deface or injure the stamp, and in doing so to choke the double edge, and thus prevent injury to the envelope, while the crossedge also co-operates for the same purpose.

The nutN is fixed in the handle A by means of screws L. and is provided internally with spiral grooves to receive the traveling tube K, Fig. 2, which is made with spiral grooves k to fit the spirals in nut N. On the lower end of this tube K is a stem, P, which carries the cutter O. Said tube has an internal shoulder, 7c, looking upward and forming a seat for the spring I, and it also has an external shoulder, p, looking downward, and serving as a stop to the downward motion of the sliding stem P, by striking the narrowed throat ot' thimble b, in which the stem slides.

Inserted into the tube K are the lower ends of the plunger H and coiled spring I, the latter resting on the shoulder 7c just mentioned, and pushing up said plungerby a thrust action ou the under side of the head ot' the plunger confined in the cavity of the handle. By this arrangement the handle A, when operating the stamp, gives an elastic stroke of the cutter O, which in striking the paper is pushed upward, or rather the handle A descends, while the cutter rests on the paper. As the handle A thus descends, the nut N, acting on the spirals k of the tube K, sets the latter in rotation, and thus slightly rotates the cutter O and abrades or defaces the postage-stamp on which the cutter operates; and when this contact of the cutter and postage-stamp is broken the expansion of spring Idrives the tube K and cutter down (in relation to the handle A) to their original position before the stroke. This downward motion ofthe cutter and tube K is arrested by means of the shoulder p, which comes in contact with the narrowed throat of the lower end of thimble b, as already mentioned. In like manner the head D is arranged with a coiled spring, so as to recede in the handle. The tube d has its lower end inserted into the socket of the head D, while said tube is tted to and slides on the thimble b,- and the lower end of a coiled spring, M, rests on the shoulder d', and thus pushes the tube and sliding head D both down ward, the upper end or" the spring bearing against the nut N. The downward motion of the tube d on the thim-l ble bis arrested by the contact of shoulder c of IOO the thimble with the shoulderfl of the tube,

and the upward motion of said tube is limited by the nut N, or its contact with the upper end of the tube. Thus under the action of the separate springs I and M both the cutter O and the sliding head D give an elastic stroke on the letter. on the face-plate of head D first comes in contact with the paper, thus printing the name of the post-office and the date-as, Buffalo, N. Y., April 16, 1880. `When the head D is thus arrested in its downward motion by contact with the paper which is being printed, the handle A continues to descend and the head D recedes or rises in the handle. At the next step the cutter O strikes the letter or postage-stamp, when the tube K and stern P are thus both pushed upward in the handle or, in other words, the handle descends toward the letter where the type and cutter rest. This downward motion compresses the two springs I land M, and the plunger H advances downward in the tube K, which in turn is pushed upward in the nut N with a slight rotation, already described.

In operating with the stamp the ink-pad should be struck lightly; but the letter must receive a blow suficicnt to drive the sliding head D upward. thus compressing` the coiled spring M until the cutter O is on a line with As the stroke is given tbe type.

the type or face plate E, as seen in dotted lines, Fig. 1, and also to drive the cutter into the paper and abrade the surface thereof. This stroke rst does the printing by means of the faceplate E, and when the cutter strikes the letter both the sliding head D and spiral tube K, with cutter O, rise in relation to the handle A, thus giving a slight rotation to the cutter in the nut Nor handle, and consequently both cutting and scraping or abrading the paper stamp. y

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. In combination with the hollow handle A, the plunger H, provided with the coiled spring I, the traveling tube K. having the spiral threads k', workin g in nut N, and the stem P, guided by the thimble b, and carrying the crucial and double-edged or V-shaped cutter O, substantially as set forth.

2. In a canceling-stamp, the cutter O, having a double and V-shaped edge for giving a positive but shallow cut, in order to destroy or deface the stamp without injuring the envelope, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

, DE WITT C. BREED. Witnesses:

SETE; J. THOMAS, C. P. SAMPsoN. 

